45 uses for aluminium foil you didn’t know about

A few of these aluminium foil uses put your iron to work.

When you iron clothing, a lot of the iron’s heat is sucked up by the board itself – requiring you to make several passes to remove wrinkles.

To speed things up, put a piece of aluminium foil under your ironing board cover.

The foil will reflect the heat back through the clothing, smoothing wrinkles quicker.

Looking for an easy way to clean the ashes out of your fireplace?

Place a double layer of heavy-duty aluminium foil across the bottom of the fireplace or under the wood grate.

The next day – or once you’re sure all the ashes have cooled – simply fold it up and throw it away.

An iron-on patch is an easy way to fix small holes in clothing – but only if it doesn’t get stuck onto your ironing board.

To avoid this, put a piece of aluminum foil under the hole.

It won’t stick to the patch, and you can just slip it out when you’re finished.

Is starch building up on your clothes iron and causing it to stick?

To get rid of it, run your hot iron over a piece of aluminium foil.

Mice, rabbits, and other animals often feed on the bark of young trees during winter.

A cheap and effective deterrent is to wrap the tree trunks with a double layer of heavy-duty aluminium foil in late fall.

Be sure to remove the foil in spring.

A sunny window is a great place for keeping plants that love a lot of light.

However, since the light always comes from the same direction, plants tend to bend toward it.

To bathe your plants in light from all sides, make a sun box: Remove the top and one side from a cardboard box and line the other three sides and bottom with aluminium foil, shiny side out, taping or gluing it in place.

Place plants in the box and set it near a window.

To give plants grown from seeds a healthy head start, line a shoe box with aluminium foil, shiny side up, allowing about two inches of foil to extend out over the sides.

Poke several drainage holes in the bottom – penetrating the foil – then fill the box slightly more than halfway with potting soil, and plant the seeds.

The foil inside the box will absorb heat to keep the seeds warm as they germinate, while the foil outside the box will reflect light onto the young sprouts.

Place the box near a sunny window, keep the soil moist, and watch ’em grow!

Help plant cuttings grow strong and uncluttered by starting them in a container covered with a sheet of aluminium foil.

Simply poke a few holes in the foil and insert the cuttings through the holes.

There’s even an added bonus: The foil slows water evaporation, so you’ll need to add water less frequently.

To keep meat drippings off your barbecue coals, fashion a disposable drip pan out of a couple of layers of heavy-duty aluminium foil.

Shape it freehand, or use an inverted baking pan as a mold (remember to remove the pan once your creation is finished).

Also, don’t forget to make your drip pan slightly larger than the meat on the grill.

After the last steak is brought in, and while the coals are still red-hot, lay a sheet of aluminium foil over the grill to burn off any remaining foodstuffs.

The next time you use your barbecue, crumple up the foil and use it to easily scrub off the burned food before you start cooking.